A World Full Of Weeping

Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries #4

by Keith McCarthy, Seán Barrett (Reading)

An invitation to stay with childhood friends seems an excellent idea to aid Helena's recovery after her cancer treatment. Helena grew up with the Hickmans and had spent many happy holidays with them. The fact that they live in a castle surrounded by forest makes it an even more perfect spot to recuperate. But when a man is found burned to death in a car, the apparently irrelevant though horrific incident creates unexpected disturbances. Helena and Eisenmenger, caught in the middle of it all, cannot understand why. But the unpleasantness grows and worse is to come, for secrets are unearthed that concern not only the Hickmans, but also Helena and her past.

Genres: Mystery Thriller, Crime

Audio CD

First published July 2, 2006

About the author

Keith McCarthy is a pathologist and writer of crime fiction, known for his Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries. He also writes under the name Lance Elliot.

Series:
* Dr. Lance Elliot
* Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries

Reviews

[Andy Plonka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author. His command of the English language combined with his wry wit make for a great combination. In the midst of a gruesome situation laughter prevails. This book delves into Helena Fleming's family.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Eisenmenger aranges for Helena Fleming and himself to stay at the home of her childhood friends the Hickmans. Soon after they arrive a burnigncar is discovered with a body inside. But who and why. They decide to interfere in the police investigation. But what secrets will they discover.
An entertaining modern mystery.

[Ann Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent

Well written, but the ending is a disappointment. I don't have twelve more words to say about this book. Sorry.

[Kathleen Hagen]

A World Full of Weeping, by Keith McCarthy, narrated by Sean Barrett, produced by Isis Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Helena’s parents were murdered in a grisly fashion, and her brother was convicted of the crime because of the work of an ambitious female detective. Now, eight years later, after Helena has suffered from, and is recovering from, breast cancer, she and her fiancé, a well-known pathologist, go to stay with her aunt and cousins in a remote castle where she spent many happy childhood summers. But Ellinore, the grandmother, seems to be falling into dementia. Helena’s own aunt and uncle seem particularly worried and not necessarily pleased to have guests, and her two cousins, Nell and Hugo have changed a great deal. Helena is allowed to read Nell’s letters, including letters from her own father. Helena learns that Nell had confessed a secret to her father that he apparently found it very hard to forgive. Helena knew only that Nell had had a baby, and that the boy was now nine or ten years old. Nell seems oddly unattached to her son. Just before Helena and her fiancé arrived, a man was found burned to death in a car. Then, an old homeless drunk is beaten and killed. And, finally a baby, who died several years ago, is unearthed. The police are involved, including Helen’s nemesis from the police force, and her fiancé figures largely in trying to sort out the whole mess. This was a very good book except that it had pieces that were, to my mind at least, extra and should have been left out. For example, the prologue that showed how traumatic burn deaths were for the pathologist, did not seem to have any connection to the rest of the book when he didn’t even figure as a main character until the end when he solves the crimes. I’m not an editor, but I do think more editing would have helped this book.

[Jen Bailey Bergen (tryjen) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book places our familiar characters in a new-to-us environment and thus introduces an large cast of entirely new characters. These characters are instrumental in answering questions which have plagued Helena since in book one, but it feels somehow... contrived. It's still an excellent read and definitely a contextual necessity, but it falls just a bit short of the very high bar set by books 1-3.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple who the wife Helena had cancer they were invited to a make believe Castle for a reunion with family and friends whom they havent seen for years. Almost there they smell smoke and fire. Was something on fire? I was a car all burnt up with a man burned to death in the car .Seems theres lots of secrets in this family that all of them may not know about. To me the people in the story seem snobbish and high classed people . The kind to hide anything of shame for the family. Seems to make the story run on and on forever.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

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